News in Brief: Feb. 14 to Feb. 20

It was a week of losses for Gaucho sports teams, as women’s softball, women’s tennis, and men’s baseball fell to other Big West schools. Women’s softball lost 9-0 to Utah and 5-2 to Loyola Marymount at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City. Women’s tennis experienced its third-straight loss to UC Berkeley, at 5-2. The San Diego State University Aztecs beat the UCSB men’s baseball team 7-5. Not all teams lost, however; men’s tennis took a 5-2 win over the University of the Pacific on Sunday.

ISLA VISTA

A 19-year-old Isla Vista resident was arrested Saturday night on suspicion of attempted burglary, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. Isla Vista Foot Patrol deputies arrested Christian Zanabria “as he was prowling in a parking lot between two apartment complexes” on the 6600 block of Del Playa Drive. Deputies found a discarded backpack and a window screen with a one-foot wide slash nearby. It is unknown if Zanabria is behind what the sheriff’s office calls “a rash of recent burglaries.” Zanabria is currently held at the Santa Barbara County Jail with a $50,000 bail.

COUNTY

The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management released a “hard freeze” warning late last week for Feb. 20 and 21, between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. Temperatures are expected to drop below 24 and 28 degrees in certain parts of the county. Pet owners are advised to keep their animals indoors, and the below average temperatures “can burst exposed pipes and kill crops or sensitive vegetation.” While meteorologists predict that there will be less than 0.10” of rain, gusty winds and icy roads are still possible.

STATE

Students at UC Davis raised concerns after the campus’s director of Counseling and Psychological Services was terminated following questions about the allocation of mental health funding, according to The Aggie. Sarah Hahn, the former director, filed a whistleblower report just one day before she received a notice of termination. The campus newspaper’s recent investigation also found that UC Davis had not hired 12 additional counselors to staff mental health services and that part of the allocated funding was misspent.

The Trump administration proposed slashing all $10.2 million in funding for the earthquake early-warning system in its latest budget proposal. Californians, who live in one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, are concerned about what this could mean for the U.S. Geological Survey, which staffs and operates the program. Scientists say that early-warning systems can make a large difference in saving lives. Advocates, including politicians from both sides of the political spectrum, are calling on Congress to allocate money for the program.

NATIONAL

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he signed a memo directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions “to propose regulations that ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns,” according to CNN. Earlier this year, the federal government began reviewing bump fire stock devices, also known as bump stocks, following the October Las Vegas shooting. The gunman in the shooting used bump stocks to fire on concertgoers more quickly, causing national outrage at the legality of such equipment.